Calgary Roughnecks goaltender Christian Del Bianco stops this Colorado Mammoth shot during National Lacrosse League action in Calgary on Saturday at the Saddledome. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia.Gavin Young / CalSunWP

Both the Calgary Roughnecks (6-7) and the Colorado Mammoth (4-8) were looking for a little St. Patrick’s Day luck in their Saturday night showdown at the Saddledome.

And that’s just what the Mammoth had on their side.

It was a long, tough game that saw teams trade tallies all night long.

So long, in fact, that it came down to the final minutes of the game before Colorado capped off an 11-9 win in front of 13,946 fans.

The Mammoth were led by two hat-trick performances by forwards Ryan Lee and Kyle Killen, while the Roughnecks relied on their usual stars Dane Dobbie (two goals, four assists) and Curtis Dickson (two goals, one assist).

The loss means the Roughnecks lose the season series to the Mammoth 2-1 — falling to 20-26 all-time against the Colorado squad.

Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky had one word to describe the team’s loss, saying he was “disappointed” by the game.

“We started out real well and then they went on a run — in the past, we haven’t gotten rattled about that and today, we got a little bit rattled by it,” said Malawsky.

“They went on another run, we battled back and tied it late. Their goaltender played very well, we had some good opportunities and so did our (goaltender). It was a battle of the goalies.

“At the end of the day, it’s a game of inches and they executed and we didn’t.”

Despite giving up the first goal — a breakaway tally scored by Mammoth defenceman Robert Hope — the Roughnecks, who were wearing St. Patrick’s Day-themed jerseys, started the game strong, cruising to a 5-1 lead over the visiting squad. It was just what the team hoped for.

Duch got the Roughnecks a goal on the power-play, before Dobbie scored his 400th career goal nearly 11 minutes into the first quarter.

Malawsky called it pretty special for him to score them all with the Roughnecks.

“It seems like he’s breaking records every day and that’s a testament to him,” he said. “It’s pretty special to hit 400 goals in this league and there’s probably a handful of guys to have done it.

“For him to have done it in one organization is pretty special. We’re fortunate to have Dane — a great feather in his cap.”

Roughnecks defenceman Dan Taylor scored a goal similar to Dickson’s before things got rough for the Roughnecks and by the end of the first half, the Mammoth rallied to tie the game.

Mammoth forward Ryan Lee scored two goals, while defenceman Dan Coates and forward Kyle Killen got markers of their own making it five-to-five at halftime.

Instead, in the last three minutes of the first half, the Roughnecks gave up three goals leaving the game tied at half time.

In the second half, teams traded goalies right down to the final buzzer.

Mammoth forwards Lee and Killen completed their hat-tricks in the third quarter, while defenceman Jordan Gillies scored and forward Eli McLaughlin got a tally of his own.

On Calgary’s end, forwards Dickson, Dobbie and Eli Salama and got tallies of their own, while defenceman Dan Taylor picked up his second of the game.

Next up for the Roughnecks is a trip across the country to visit the Rochester Knighthawks (2-10) next Saturday night (5:30 p.m. MST, nll.com/brlive) — a chance for the team to reset.

Roughnecks captain Dan MacRae said the team will tailor their week before the match by having a video session instead of practice before the game, adding the team needs to have more confidence in themselves.

“I think we need a little bit more confidence in ourselves, we are a great team,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of great young players who do a lot for us and I think a lot of veteran guys like myself, and Dane, take a lot of ownership in games like that because we need to show those guys the way.

“We’re going to learn from this one and get ready for next week.”

Malawsky said he hopes the team can bounce back after an “up and down season.”

“We’ve got one season series in the bag, we lost one and we have a chance to clinch two more,” he said.

“We’re going to see how we can bounce back going against Rochester. It’s a tough trip across the country and like I said to the guys, ‘it’s a test of your character.’ We’ll see a week from now how we bounce back.”

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